Those are words to which I want to respond.

The Alliance is not, in my view, a religion.

We have opponents -- enemies really -- on the religious right, both Catholic and evangelical;

and on that part of the religious left which supports analism.

But we're not a religion.

We don't have churches or doxologies or catechisms or bishops or priests or presbyters etc.

We do have a Sacrament -- which we call the Holy Sacrament of Frot.

But in speaking of Frot as a sacrament, my purpose was to acknowledge and make manifest for our guys the inter-relationship between male sexuality and male spirituality.

Which to me is very powerful.

And to of course contrast the spirituality of Frot with analism -- which is an avowedly secular belief-system.

Similarly, we speak of Masculinity as a Divine Principle and Manhood as a Divine Gift.

We do that, firstly because we mean it, and secondly as part of a very conscious and purposeful effort to restore to Masculinity and Manhood those spiritual attributes which have been ripped from them by an aggressively secular and anti-masculine modern world.

Which brings up the question of ideology.

I don't think of the Alliance as an ideology.

But analism is without question an ideology -- and an ideology which has its roots in two others, pansexualism and feminism.

Analism teaches that Masculinity is bad, that emasculation is good, and that males can rid themselves of their masculinity by being anally penetrated multiple times by multiple partners.

There's a vast cultural apparatus, both on the net and in the real world, supporting that ideology, and working, through various forms of pressure and coercion, to make it the sole "sexual" reality in the lives of millions of males who self-identify as either "gay" or "bi."

So -- our argument with analism is not simply about sexual technique.

If it were, it wouldn't be an argument at all.

It would just be a rather mild discussion of pros and cons.

Instead, we find ourselves in a very bitter culture war.

Now, in our opposition to the ideology of analism, have we created an ideology of our own?

Not in my view.

We're an advocacy organization, and we have an agenda which we put forward very clearly and openly:

Frot not anal.

Fidelity not promiscuity.

Masculinity not effeminacy.

But that agenda does not constitute an ideology.

When I think of Frot and the Alliance, I think of them more in moral and aesthetic terms.

For me, Frot is a rigorous, austere, and equal practice.

And when I see those qualities in other cultures -- particularly the Spartan -- it obviously appeals.

So -- we can pair:

Frot Masculinity Fidelity	Rigor Austerity Equality

And then we can think in terms, as my letter writer said, of a Way of Life which would be constructed from these elements, and which would be communal and connected.

Connected in the genuine sense, not in the promiscuous sense.

Promiscuity, despite what the early sexual liberationists believed or wished, does not create connection.

But a Community based on Austerity and Equality does.

We can see that in the Greeks, and in their practice of Nude Fight Sport.

Which was a daily occurrence.

The early Greek city-states were little aggregations of guys who, every afternoon, hung out together and fought each other.

Nude.

That's the truth.

Mainly wrestling, but also boxing and pankration.

They trained in all three.

And the intent in fighting, and in fighting nude, was to reduce the opponents -- the ant-agonists -- to their most basic element -- their Manhood.

To leave that Manhood, as Prof Andronikos says, unfettered by any object foreign to itself.

And to then undertake an agon -- a strenuous physical struggle of ONE MAN to overcome ONE other MAN.

As I said to Warrior Jon, I think that's part of the reason that male-male Eros among the Greeks and other Warrior peoples like the Celts was so benign and beneficial.

Because it was a natural outgrowth of guys training and fighting -- nude -- together.

Of course guys having sex with guys is normal and natural.

But I think that when it emerges from the fight sport experience -- which by its nature is rigorous, austere, and equal -- it's particularly sweet.

So, for me, Fight Sport is part of the communal mix.

Destined and designed to produce very powerful male-male bonds.

Bonds which are based upon equality and the striving of two equal men to outdo each other in Virtue.

Each to be more noble and heroic than his mate.

That's the striving -- that's the Strife of Valour.

So:

Rigor, Austerity, Equality.

Phallus, Masculinity, Fidelity.

Rigorous, Austere, Equal.

Phallic, Masculine, Faithful.

Now -- coming back to religion, I did give you guys a little Oath of Phallic Fidelity -- which you can find on the Alliance Youth page and in Two Spearmen.

And perhaps we'll add other oaths and other vows to those.

Left to my druthers, as you know, I would create a community, a New Sparta, organized along some of the lines of the old Sparta, and thus give you its gifts, as described by Plutarch:

there was no longer greed or want among them, but instead equal enjoyment of plenty, and the sense of ease which comes from simple living. Except when they went on campaign, all their time was taken up by choral dances, festivals, feasts, hunting expeditions, physical exercise and conversation.

The conversation, according to Plato in the Protagoras, was of a philosophic nature:

And in Lacedaemon [Sparta] and Crete not only men but also women have a pride in their high cultivation [of wisdom]. And hereby you may know that I am right in attributing to the Lacedaemonians [Spartans] this excellence in philosophy and speculation:

If a man converses with the most ordinary Lacedaemonian, he will find him seldom good for much in general conversation, but at any point in the discourse he will be darting out some notable saying, terse and full of meaning, with unerring aim; and the person with whom he is talking seems to be like a child in his hands. And many of our own age and of former ages have noted that the true Lacedaemonian type of character has the love of philosophy even stronger than the love of gymnastics [nude exercise]; they are conscious that only a perfectly educated man is capable of uttering such expressions.

Of course Plato is here speaking of the ideal Lycurgan Sparta, a small, eqalitarian, city-state, dedicated to the welfare of its citizens.

As Plutarch says:

It was not, however, the chief design of Lycurgus then to leave his city in command over a great many others, but he thought that the happiness of an entire city, like that of a single individual, depended on the prevalence of virtue [areté] and concord within its own borders. The aim, therefore, of all his arrangements and adjustments was to make his people free-minded, self-sufficing, and moderate in all their ways, and to keep them so as long as possible.

Thus producing, adds Plutarch, "an example of an entire city given to the love of wisdom" -- and love of wisdom, in Greek, is philosophia.

And philosophia, in Greece, is consumed with the question -- how should we best live?

And the Greeks answered that question by saying, in the pursuit of Virtue.

Such Virtue as creates the Hero.

Werner Jaeger:

The early Greek city-state was small, but it had something truly heroic and truly human in its nature. Greece, and in fact all the ancient world, held the hero to be the highest type of humanity.

The hero is the highest type of humanity -- because he's Virtuous.

His heroism is *moral* heroism.

He embodies and practices a Virtuous Virility.

Which is what I would wish for all of you.

But I'm a realist.

The Spartan state made it easy, shall we say, for its citizens to be heroes -- by raising them to be heroes.

While denying them any material temptations.

As Jaeger himself says:

The rest of the Greeks saw with astonishment and admiration how every institution in Sparta served the same purpose -- to make Spartan citizens the best soldiers in the world. They understood very well that this was not done by incessant drilling and manoeuvring, but by moulding the character from earliest childhood. This education was not only military. It was political and moral in the broadest sense ...

So -- if we paraphrase Jaeger's description of the polis or city-state to make it specific to Sparta, we get an idea of how powerful the Spartan ideal actually was:

The enormous influence of Sparta upon individual life was based on the fact that it was an ideal. Sparta was a spiritual entity, which assimilated all the loftiest aspects of human life and gave them out as its own gifts. Nowadays, we naturally think first of the state's claim to educate all its citizens during their youth. But public education was not advocated in Greece until it became a thesis of fourth century philosophy : Sparta, alone, at this early period, paid direct attention to the education of the young.

And did so through its unique system of Warrior training and education known as the agogé, which moulded character from earliest childhood. This education was not only military. It was political and moral in the broadest sense.

In addition, Sparta educated the members of its community by utilizing musical and athletic competitions which were held during the festivals of the gods. These competitions were the noblest reflection of the physical and spiritual culture of the age. Plato rightly calls nude athletics and music 'the old-established culture'. That culture, which had originally been aristocratic, was fostered by Sparta through great competitions; and these competitions did more than encourage musical taste and athletic skill. Coupled with the agogé, they created the sense of community in the city.

And that's what I would reproduce.

Is it necessary to reproduce it?

YES.

Let's suppose that two of our guys -- Two Men -- Two Warriors -- Two Spearmen -- find and commit to each other.

That's great.

But the culture around them doesn't support them.

To the contrary -- it'll do its best to tear them apart.

Something they need to remember.

Our Warriors -- as much as they may identify as Warriors -- need cultural support -- because they're human beings.

Social animals.

I would give them that.

Ideology, religion?

I don't know.

A Way of Life?

YES.

The Warrior Way.

Rigorous, Austere, and Equal.

And under such a way, and surrounded by other erotically-bonded Warrior pairs, they would flourish.

Recently I received a letter from Frances:

What we know of Classical Greece would be unrecognizable were one to deduct the love of man for man within their culture. That culture was powered by those relationships. That culture was a high point in man's existence upon this earth. There is no such thing as "gay." It's a cultural phenomenon peculiar to us, and foreign to Classical Greek Culture. Their sexuality wasn't some delightfully sloppy habit, or ritualized exercise in masochism but a part of a whole commitment to an ideal. The matrix their societies depended upon could not exist without it, with it they were able to achieve great things.

Frances is right, of course.

"Their sexuality wasn't some delightfully sloppy habit, or ritualized exercise in masochism but a part of a whole commitment to an ideal."

Greek sexuality -- male-male Eros -- was "part of a whole commitment to an ideal."

*Part* of a whole -- a societal -- commitment to an ideal.

That ideal was Areté

Virtue.

Moral Heroism.

That's why the Spartans were able to create A Nation of Heroes.

We could do the same.

Oh yes.

We could.

If enough of you were willing to commit to that ideal of Virtue and Moral Heroism -- in every aspect of your life -- including the sexual.

Bill Weintraub

October 23, 2009

© All material Copyright 2009 by Bill Weintraub. All rights reserved.